Blinded by Love
by ZeaBea
Summary: Chat Noir is a part of one of Paris' favorite pair of superheroes, but lately he has been feeling more like a side kick. Out late after an Akuma attack Chat Noir sees Marinette about to be attacked by muggers, but before he can jump to her rescue, she saves herself. Intrigued by her use of martial arts, Chat Noir begins to wonder if she is the person to light a spark in his superhe


Chat Noir pushes himself forward on his staff using the momentum to carry him between buildings. Despite the beautiful view of Paris at night and the wind blowing through his hair and cat ears as he flies through the air, his mind is focused elsewhere.

Chat was just sitting on a random rooftop in Paris not thirty minutes ago thinking about how crazy his life had become in the last year, when all of a sudden he heard a scream echoing in the night. Chat swiveled around and saw a giant gorilla climbing the Eiffel Tower with a young woman in his hands.

"How original", he said out loud to no one as he started leaping towards the Akumatized gorilla. As he landed in front of the Eiffel Tower, Chat shouted, "Hey King Kong! I think you are in the wrong city, New York City is that way."

The gorilla just growled in response and continued to climb higher. Just as Chat was about to spring into action, Ladybug came flying out of nowhere on her Yo-Yo. Chat was taken a back for a minute as he stared in awe as she flew across the sky with the moon shining behind her, like it was a spotlight designed just for her.

Ladybug landed on the Eiffel Tower above the gorilla and she snatched the woman out of her reach using her Yo-Yo. Out of instinct that had developed out of countless Akuma battles, Chat used the extension of his staff to reach parallel to Ladybug and the woman.

Ladybug passed the woman over to Chat and he began their descent while Ladybug assessed the situation with the gorilla. By the time Chat got back to her, she already had a plan.

Chat went to distract the gorilla while Ladybug shouted, "Lucky charm!" and received a toy airplane.

"Aw come on, now you are just asking for more King Kong jokes." Chat said

It seemed that Ladybug barely had time to register his joke before her face turned from annoyance to surprise. Chat turned just in time to see a huge hand swipe him off his perch on the tower.

"Look who's the damsel in distress now, Chat." Ladybug sighed, "You really got to pay more attention in battle."

"How can I pay attention to the battle when I got your beautiful face demanding my admiration?" Chat purred while the gorilla continued to climb the tower with Chat in tow.

Ladybug sighed again and set up the toy airplane, which irritated the gorilla more. He used his feet to hold his position on the tower, and with his free hand, the gorilla swatted at the airplane until he caught it.

This seemed to be the moment Ladybug was waiting for, because seconds later she leaped onto the gorilla's back. Ladybug snatches off a gold chain necklace that Chat did notice before, and she jumped down to the platform below to release the Akuma.

During the destruction of the necklace, Chat realized that he recognizes it because it belongs to his bodyguard, although usually it is hidden under his turtleneck. That would mean the gorilla was his Gorilla.

Chat questioned to himself only for a moment why his bodyguard would be so upset when he remembered earlier that evening he overheard his bodyguard asking for a night off to take a girl he met out on a date. Gabriel Agreste flatly refused without any explanation and shooed him away.

Chat had no doubt in his mind that is why his bodyguard was so upset.

By the time he figured everything out, Ladybug had released her airplane given to her by the lucky charm. The gorilla had returned to his human form. The cars and buildings that had been destroyed on his path to the Eiffel tower had been restored.

Chat made a mental note to pretend to need his bodyguard the next evening, and then once they were out of the house, he would allow the gorilla to go on his date.

Chat Noir and Ladybug fisted bumped and simultaneously said "Pound it!" But for some reason this time his heart wasn't in it.

Ladybug did not notice anything amiss with her partner as she made her goodbyes and used her yo-yo to pull her a safe distance to detransform. Because Chat did not use his cataclysm, there was no need to hurry away to transform, so he helped his bodyguard down. Chat dropped him near the woman he kidnapped, whom Chat assumed was the woman the gorilla wanted to date, before he used his staff to propel him through the sky.

While leaping between buildings, Chat finally put words to how he was feeling. He felt useless.

During that Akuma attack, he did nothing but make snarky comments and get captured. Ladybug freed the woman, found the Akumatized object, retrieved the object, broke it, and restored everything to the way it was before. All done without his help.

This was not a new feeling for Chat - there had been so many attacks where he did next to nothing or just got in the way. And worse there were some attacks where he got captured or controlled by the Akumatized villain and forced to turn against Ladybug.

Maybe he was completely useless. Maybe –

His train of thought was derailed when he noticed a group of big menacing guys walking towards a young teenager on the street below him. The guys gave him a weird feeling, so he lowered himself to the group incase anything happened.

That is when he noticed the teenager was his classmate Marinette. He wondered why she was walking the streets of Paris alone at night.

Marinette did not seem to be afraid of the men walking towards her, in fact, it seemed to Chat that she didn't even see them. Although, that could just be her way of carefully avoiding them.

When the men were only a few feet away from her the larger one, clearly the leader, pulled out a knife and demanded that she give him her purse. Chat Noir jumped out from his hiding spot in the alley behind Marinette just in time to see her roundhouse kick the leader's arm causing him to drop his knife.

Chat and the men froze in surprise and confusion, and Marinette took that moment to punch the leader in the chest, causing him to stumble and fall on his back. Marinette grabbed the knife off the ground and threatened the other two men with it before they grabbed their friend off the ground and ran away.

"Wow!" Chat said out loud, which surprised Marinette and she whipped around, still holding the knife.

"Oh, it is just you Chat Noir," she said as her fierce and determined face relaxed into a pleasant smile, "You surprised me."

"No, you surprised me. Here I was thinking I would be your knight in shining armor, when clearly this princess can take care of herself."

"Oh," Marinette blushed, "well, I can't expect one of Paris's heroes to always be there for me. Plus, I enjoying taking martial arts classes and clearly they have come to good use."

"Yeah, clearly" Chat didn't know what to say, this was the last thing he expected to see from Marinette. She always seemed so nervous and clumsy in school. "Do you want me to walk you home? It's late and there might be more creepy guys around."

"No thanks, I think I'll be ok, my house is down the street. Plus," She said with a glint in her eye, "Like you said, I can take care of myself." She gave a small wave and a smile and continued to walk down the street, dropping the knife on the ground as she did so.

Chat stared in awe as she walked away. Then a feeling of dread hit him like a ton of bricks. He couldn't even help in a non-Akumatized crime like mugging.

Maybe he was completely useless.

Ladybug didn't need him.

Marinette didn't need him.

Maybe Paris didn't need him.


End file.
